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Thursday, December 15, 2011

Sony Ericsson releases alpha Android Ice Cream Sandwich ROMs

Sony Ericsson’s developer community has come up with an alpha ROM of Ice Cream Sandwich for unlocked versions of Xperia devices, including the Arc S, Neo V, and Ray. What should be noted is that alpha ROMs aren’t made for daily use because there are functions that aren’t working correctly. Here is a list of the things that aren’t working, as provided by Sony Ericsson in the company’s official blog post:

Modem is turned off and SIM card will therefore not be recognized (this also means you can’t make any phone calls).

Bluetooth is turned off.

Wi-Fi is turned off.

ANT+ is turned off.

FM-radio is turned off.

I know, this doesn’t look too good, but you can still get a feel of what ICS will be like on your select Xperia handset. There is a list of features you can take out in this alpha ROM, which include:

New “Roboto” font.

New “Holo” theme is supported (you are able to test apps written to make use of the Holo theme).

Music player control from lock screen.

Updated UI in the Settings menu.

Updated UI in the web browser.

Updated UI and interaction with the new messaging action bar.

Updated UI for improved multitasking.

Swipe to dismiss notifications, tasks and browser tabs in the Notification menu.

If you’re the tinkering type, you can flash this build by heading over to the SE Developer’s Blog. Remember, this alpha build will only work with the Xperia devices I mentioned up top. Also be aware there are risks associated with rooting your phone and flashing it with another ROM, so take some precautions, like backingup anything important.